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  • Letter

Reducing the short-range uncertainty in the nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double-β decay

Y. K. Wang, Y. L. Yang, and P. W. Zhao*

  • State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

  • *Contact author: pwzhao@pku.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. C 114, L011301 – Published 15 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xd9n-4gwf

Abstract

The nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) of the neutrinoless double-β (0νββ) decay in the candidate nuclei relevant to the current and next-generation experimental searches are crucial for extracting beyond-standard-model parameters from the experimental half-life measurements. However, the recently recognized short-range operator with an unknown coupling, required by the renormalizability of the leading-order nn→ppee amplitudes within the framework of chiral effective field theory (EFT), has introduced significant uncertainties into the NMEs. In this Letter, the 0νββ-decay NMEs of Ca48, Ge76, Se82, Mo100, and Xe136 are calculated using, for the first time, the decay operator derived from the relativistic chiral EFT and the relativistic many-body wave functions obtained from the state-of-the-art relativistic configuration-interaction density functional theory. The resulting NMEs are free from the uncertainties typically introduced by leading-order short-range operators, as the relativistic chiral decay operator naturally ensures the renormalizability of the nn→ppee amplitudes at leading order, obviating the need for a short-range term. The present NMEs are then compared with those obtained using the nonrelativistic chiral decay operators, which includes both long- and short-range terms, and the short-range uncertainties are analyzed comprehensively. This study significantly reduces a key source of uncertainty in the evaluation of 0νββ-decay NMEs. The reported NMEs without contamination of the leading-order short-range uncertainties are important for assessing the sensitivity to the inverted neutrino-mass hierarchy in next-generation experiments.

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